A Qualitative Research on the Economic and Social Impacts of Covid-19 on Syrians

Abstract

The impact of Covid-19 is thought to have left many Syrians defenseless against life’s struggles, and they face considerable debts or their children are forced to work as cheap labor to earn money for survival. This research investigates the problems of Syrians during the Covid-19 pandemic period economically, socially and regarding health and considers solutions to these problems.
This study has a qualitative design in order to identify more effectively and in finer detail economic, social and health issues of Syrians under temporary protection in Turkey during the Covid-19 pandemic period. The study goes on to consider solutions to these problems. The use of a qualitative method in this study reveals in detail how these Syrians are impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic period.
The main question answered in this study is: What are the problems and suggested solutions of Syrians living in Turkey during the Covid-19 pandemic period? A range of additional interview questions provided further background and deeper perspectives on the issues. Responses to the questions are discussed and evaluated in the study. Data were collected from two locations in Turkey. Interviews were conducted with participants who were in Gaziantep and Izmir between May and June 2020. These two cities were chosen for the study because they are in the first ten provinces in Turkey by Syrian population. In October 2020 Gaziantep had the second highest population of Syrian residents (GİGM, 2020) with 452.420 people and in Izmir province there were 147.047 Syrian refugees. In addition to population the study also considered the fact that both Gaziantep and Izmir are cities where there are networks of Syrians who are active in local society via informal channels (Gültekin et al., 2018; Yıldız & Uzgören, 2016). 
The study concluded that the Syrian participants who became unemployed or had difficulty in earning met their basic needs by receiving loans from their immediate vicinity or by having debts to Syrian markets. Another important problem created by unemployment during the Covid-19 period was not being able to pay house rents. Since Syrians lost their jobs which were their sole source of income, they were unable to pay house rents and many participants came close to being evicted from their houses. The result of this research and the study results made by SGDD-ASAM (2020) that the Syrians have difficulty in paying house rent and invoices, comply with each other.
One important conclusion obtained by this study that is different from earlier studies is that Syrians who were interviewed within the scope of this research did not report difficulty in accessing health services and being treated in hospitals, as they have similar facilities with Turkish citizens for access to health service and treatment and they are treated equally like other citizens. It is therefore possible to state that the Syrians who were interviewed have no differentiation in accessing health services and in being treated. This finding is in contrast to situations found in previous studies (Corley, 2020; Hedayat, 2020) which found that refugees had difficulty in accessing health problems. The conclusion of this study is that Syrians living in Turkey and participating in the study did not lack access to health services during the pandemic and had equal rights and facilities with everybody else living in Turkey.
To prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic illness, when Turkish citizens and Syrians are compared according to their adaptation of precautions generally, it was concluded Syrians adapted to precautions less compared to Turkish citizens. Syrians do not avoid being a guest and making short home visits to friends and relatives, preventing social distancing.
Precautions to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic illness are announced by mosques, municipalities and police. Because the announcements are in Turkish, precautions taken to limit the spread of the pandemic have not been understood fully by Syrians. Therefore, it was concluded that one of the most important conclusions would be for announcements to be made in Arabic in areas where many Syrians live. Lastly, Syrians being in a disadvantaged situation even in normal life conditions can be stated to have more and more difficult conditions during Covid-19 and similar social crisis periods and have not able to find a way out of this situation. Consequently, they became highly dependent on government support. 

Keywords

• Covid-19 Pandemic, Syrians, socioeconomic problems, Gaziantep, Izmir.

Covid-19’un Suriyeliler Üzerindeki Ekonomik ve Toplumsal Etkilerine Yönelik Nitel Bir Araştırma/ A Qualitative Research on the Economic and Social Impacts of Covid-19 on Syrians

Öz

Tüm dünyada hızla yayılan Covid-19 salgını olumsuz etkilerini yaşamın her alanında hissettirmektedir. Ülkeler, salgının insan sağlığı açısından risklerini azaltmak için zorunlu olarak çeşitli ve sıkı tedbirler almak durumunda kalmışlardır. Sağlığın korunmasına yönelik alınan tedbirler, tüm kesimleri ekonomik ve sosyal açıdan olumsuz yönde etkilemiştir. Bu salgın sürecinden en fazla etkilenen kesimlerden biri Suriyeliler olmuştur. Bu araştırmada, zorunlu göç mağduru Suriyelilerin Covid-19 salgın hastalığı sürecinde yaşadıkları ekonomik, toplumsal ve sağlığa ilişkin sorunları araştırılmış ve bu sorunların çözümüne ilişkin öneriler geliştirilmiştir. Nitel araştırma olarak tasarlanan bu çalışmada, yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme formu kullanılarak katılımcılarla telefon aracılığı ile iletişime geçilmiştir. Bu kapsamda, 2020 yılının Mayıs ve Haziran aylarında, Gaziantep ve İzmir kent merkezlerinde ikamet etmekte olan 16 Suriyeli katılımcı ile görüşmeler gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırma için bu iki kentin tercih edilmesinde; en fazla Suriyelinin yaşamak için tercih ettiği yerler arasında olmaları, bu yerleşim yerlerinde mevcut ekonomik ve toplumsal olanakların çeşitliliği vb. nedenler etkili olmuştur. Yapılan görüşmelerden elde edilen veriler Word dokümanı haline getirilerek 96 sayfalık ham veriye ulaşılmış ve bu veriler MAXQDA (nitel veri analiz programı) programı kullanılarak içerik analizi yöntemi ile analiz edilmiştir. Araştırma bulgularından hareketle, Covid-19 sürecinde, araştırma kapsamında görüşülen Suriyelilerin tamamına yakınının geçimlerini sağlayacak işlerini kaybettikleri, geçim sıkıntısı yaşadıkları ve kiralarını ödeyememe gibi sorunlarla karşı karşıya kaldıkları, temel ihtiyaç maddeleri ve diğer hijyen ürünlerine ulaşmada güçlük çektikleri belirlenmiştir. Katılımcıların sağlık hizmetlerine erişim ve tedavi olma konularında ise herhangi bir zorluk ve sıkıntı yaşamadıkları saptanmıştır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Covid-19 salgını,
• Suriyeliler,
• sosyoekenomik sorunlar,
• Gaziantep
• İzmir

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